


Seal of a King

by bmlhillenkeene



Series: Traitors Arc [7]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-21 00:10:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4807541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmlhillenkeene/pseuds/bmlhillenkeene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. </p>
<p>The Minotaurs on the ship approach Edmund with something of great interest to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seal of a King

Edmund sat at the prow of the ship, perched in what Lucy would lament as a precarious position that he would surely fall from; but Edmund knew himself to be perfectly safe. He had often sat upon the topmost walls of Cair Paravel, usually out on one of the jutting gargoyles, his run in with a seagull that had almost knocked him off had made him ensure his stability in places such as this.

"Your Royal Majesty King Edmund the Just."

That title threw him back years, and as he briefly shut his eyes as a sadness caught him, he saw the faces of his people, his closest companions. Maxus, Brightspark, Milrina, Frithgawn and Grefton. The Fell beasts, the Traitors Army.

"Yes?" he said, forcing the sadness back, he would mourn them later, when he was alone, they deserved their prayer said in privacy. He turned his head to see who it was who had interrupted his thinking.

It was the two minotaur's, brothers he had noted upon first meeting them. There were few who could tell the genealogy of the minotaur race outside colour, they all simply looked too alike, but Edmund had learned when Maxus had brought a number of minotaur women to him whose children had been taken by enterprising slavers; returning the rescued children was a little embarrassing when he kept offering the wrong child to the wrong mother. Maxus had been no help, claiming that it would have been wrong to correct the king. It had been as close as Maxus ever came to making fun of him.

Again forcing his thoughts from those past times he focused on the Minotaur's.

"Sire, we have need to speak to you."

Thinking that perhaps Lucy or Caspian had sent him a message he nimbly moved from the dragon figurehead to the deck before the Minotaur's. "Speak then." He smiled, putting them at their ease.

One of them produced a small object from a pouch tied to a hidden belt under the long fur at his waist, wrapped in a plain grey cloth. "This has been in our family for hundreds-"

"Nay thousands." The other interrupted.

"-of years." The first finished.

Edmund took the bundle and slowly unwrapped the object. He smiled when he saw it, it forced its way onto his face and he couldn't stop it anymore than he could stop the way his eyes watered. "My seal." He said softly, running his fingers across the scales of Justice, a Minotaur's head on one side of the scale, and his own on the other, balancing perfectly. He had had special one's made for those of his Command. The seal he himself had used was simply the scales with Aslans head above it.

"It belonged to our ancestor." The minotaur who had spoken first told him.

"Maxus." Edmund whispered. He wrapped the seal up again and swallowed hard and held it back out. "It is a great honour to meet his descendants. There was no truer friend and Commander I could have had."

The Minotaur's smiled, toothy grins. "We have wish to thank you Sire."

Edmund frowned. "Whatever for?"

"This seal has been passed from generation to generation among our family, and when times became hard and the Telmarines invaded and destroyed Narnia, this seal, and the others like it, were used to give us hope. They also aided those of our kind, and the others like us, to continue to live peacefully in Narnia after your disappearance."

"Grandmother told stories of how, of all the races in Narnia, those of the Fell races, those that you had brought together, were the one's to remain in close contact for far longer than any of the others, and that They were able to hold onto the belief that you and your brother and sisters would return."

"There are other seals?" Edmund asked; the mere thought that the seals he had made were still around, and held in such high regard was truly amazing.

"Of course Sire, the wolves still carry your seal proudly to this day, it is a great honour for them to have the seal of King Edmund the Just. The Harpies have there's still also, though theirs is kept with their ancient writings, I think they-" he looked to his brother for conformation.

"The had it bound to the cover of their book of ancient writings." The other nodded.

"The Descendants of Frithgawn Tarrow have theirs displayed proudly in their ancestral home, and the giants still send missives from Ettin sealed in wax with your seal imprinted."

Edmund was stunned. And then slowly he smiled; a real, happy smile. This was the reason he had fought so hard to have the Fell races in his army, this was why he had spent as much free time as he could getting to know his people. This was really and truly the one thing that made being King worthwhile. To know that seals he had made out of love for his most loyal followers were still treated with such regard. To know that his people had lived on, and still to this day knew and interacted with each other was just…

"Thank you, Canus, Braxis." He said, smiling even more at their surprised looks that he knew their names. "Thank you." And he stepped past them to return to the cabin he and Caspian shared, knowing it would be empty, and needing to pray for his dearly departed friends, and to thank them for believing in him.

When he was gone, the Minotaur brothers shared an appraising look. "Those stories grandmother used to tell-" Canus began.

"Are not quite as exaggerated as we might have believed." Braxis finished, putting the seal back into his belt pouch.


End file.
